Artist Statement

Impermanence and fragility fascinates me. There is a tendency for people to seek permanence — when we know something lasts forever, it seems to permit us security, whereas impermanence reveals our insecurity. Perhaps this is because we know that a lot of things in our lives are not permanent at all, and that what we cherish the most often does not last forever. Life, love, friendships, those things do not stay stable. Feelings change their shapes and constantly evolve in slightly (or drastically) different forms.

Because of my fascination to embrace this kind of insecurity, my works tend to have an ephemeral quality, either by their subjectivities, or their materials involved. They often suggest deterioration, usually even the materials themselves—beet juice, composted dirt, seeds, sprouts, and fragile paper. Sometimes the components of my works are even intangible—encounters, memory, or time.

My wish is to see the un-seeable, and hear the un-hearable. To embrace impermanence makes us feel insecure. Change makes us vulnerable. But when we are open to the vulnerability, it gives us an ability to see beauty, even in pain.

Bio

Kiyomi Fukui is a Japanese-American artist who lives and works in Long Beach, CA. Recent exhibitions include Poetics of Relation, DAC Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Thread, El Camino Art Gallery, Torrance, CA; and Bloom Polylogue, Gallery 211, Santa Ana, CA. She received an MFA in Printmaking from California State University Long Beach and a BFA in Graphic Design from La Sierra University. In addition to producing print-based artwork, Kiyomi also practices participatory performance and fiber arts, such as tatting and crocheting. At the core of her practice is an attempt to capture transient intimacy, irrespective of media.